Imperfections
by Glowing Blue
Summary: Their imperfections and faults are what endear them to the other. Seven one-shots centered around the seven deadly sins of HitsuKarin.
1. Envy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of it's characters.**

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><p><em><span>Envy<span>__: A feeling of discontented or resentful longing, aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or __**luck**__._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

"You sure you don't want some, Toushiro? It's _really, really _good."

"Yes, Karin, I'm sure. Now, please get that away from my face."

"Fine. Your loss, anyway. It tastes..._hmmm_..._heavenly._"

Toushiro only turned away in distaste, not particularly wanting to watch Karin's already bright red lips and tongue run over the Popsicle, her eyes closed as if she was enjoying some sort of ecstasy.

_Really_, it was only a Popsicle. There was no need to make such a fuss over it. So what if it was like a bazillion degrees outside, and there wasn't any shade around, and they were both seated on a small couch in her stuffy living room, the air conditioning broken from a disaster involving her father, a garden hose, and a monkey wrench?

It certainly wasn't any reason for Karin to be so _awed _by the cool little treat.

_Big deal. _He could generate enough frost to freeze the entire Seireitei over with one blow of his zanpakuto. You didn't see _him _bragging about it, or luring in susceptible thirteen year old girls with his icy magic powers of brain freeze.

He sent the Popsicle a glare, watching as Karin squealed in delight and surprise as it melted on her fingers and made a beeline for her bare arm. She immediately started licking it with quick flicks of her tongue, wanting to catch every drop of cool flavor.

"It was definitely a good idea to buy these," Karin commented, happily eyeing the treat with approval. "Thankfully, Yuzu's common sense balances out Oyaji's stupidity."

Another shriek escaped her as the ice melted and dripped onto her legs, which were folded on top of the sofa cushions.

He watched in amusement – and slight disgust – as she looked down at her limb with narrowed eyes, as if contemplating whether it would be worth it to _lick _the juice off of her leg. He was relieved when she simply put her hand over it and smudged it off. He had absolutely _no desire _to watch Karin attempt to keep her ice lolly upright in one hand, while trying to put her foot behind her head to suck on the drip. Just the thought of it put him of.

It wasn't like the damn ice was _that _good, to warrant making a fool of yourself.

He couldn't even see what was so great about the dessert, anyway. In actuality, it was pretty pathetic, as far as ice-cream went. It wasn't creamy, or sweet, or even flexible enough to offer the one eating it a choice to consume it on a stick _or _in a bowl.

"Ah, crap!" Karin cried. She jumped off the sofa, looking disgruntled. "It's _too damn hot _today! Look, it melted all over the cushion. I need to wipe it up with some napkins or Yuzu'll kill me. Here, hold this for me, Toushiro."

And suddenly, he had the offending treat _in his hand._ And he was feeling smug that it was suddenly causing Karin discomfort. Maybe now, she would realize it wasn't even close to mediocre.

As Karin ran off to the kitchen to find some napkins, he observed the Popsicle in his hand. It was red, and, after a quick sniff, he concluded that it was cherry. _This _was what had Karin all riled up? Couldn't she just freeze some actual cherries in the freezer and suck on those?

Or he wouldn't mind freezing them for her, to get the job done quicker. After all, ice was _his _forte, not this dumb treat's.

"Okay, I think I got all of it," Karin said, sounding relieved as she finished wiping at her sofa, which she had done while he had been criticizing Karin's choice of assistance in cooling off. She ran across the room and dumped the dirty paper towels into the wastebasket huddled in the corner, before jumping back onto her spot beside him on the couch.

Quick as a whip, she snatched her ice from his hand and stuck it into her mouth. Now that the heat was causing severe problems, she seemed to have realized she needed to finish it as quickly as possible, so he watched her break off a piece, and begin to suck on it in her mouth, her lips pursing and meshing together, not unattractively.

_Kami, _did she have to act like she was _kissing_ it?

He watched with ill disguised annoyance as she focused her attention once again on the ice-cream. Soon enough, it was almost all gone, having lived the last of its days running down Karin's esophagus. Karin noticed his staring and misinterpreted the look on his face.

"Really, Toushiro," she said in between licks, "there's no need to by shy. I _did _offer you one, and that offer still stands if you want some. We even have a watermelon flavored one in the freezer."

"I said I didn't want any," he snapped, irritated for some inexplainable reason as he watched her cradle the Popsicle like it was something precious, afraid to drop even a single bit.

"Yeesh. _Touchy. _I was trying to be nice, since you keep looking at mine with jealousy, or something. You'd think with that ice sword of yours you would understand that _Popsicles are your friends._"

Jealous? Him? Puh-lease.

If there was one thing he was feeling, it was _not _jealousy. So what if Karin had been giving the treat in her hand more attention than to him for the past fifteen minutes? So what if she seemed to think it had amazing abilities to cool her off – abilities more amazing than his own? Who cared? Certainly not him. Asking himself a whole bunch of rhetorical questions was just the norm for him.

"It's called a zanpakuto," he corrected, not wanting to touch on her other statements.

Karin just rolled her eyes at him as she swallowed the last bit of her treat, sighing slightly in satisfaction as it cooled her.

"I'm done," she announced. With amazing precision, she threw the Popsicle stick across the room, where it landed straight in the wastebasket.

"She shoots, she scores!" she cheered, raising her arms above her head in triumph and kicking her legs. Toushiro shook his head at her childishness.

Karin didn't see as she was busy wiping the sticky juice all over her hands onto her shorts, not really caring that she was defiling them as she was not a clothes enthusiast like so many women he knew.

"I just had the best idea!" she suddenly cried, hopping up from her position on the couch. She reached out and pulled his wrist, ignoring the way he cringed at the stickiness of her touch.

"I'll turn on the sprinklers in the back yard. That'll be sure to cool us off!"

She grinned at her brilliant idea as they headed towards the back door in the kitchen.

He allowed himself to be dragged along, though there was no way in hell Toushiro would ever agree to run around foolishly in her backyard, water spraying everywhere. But he knew that even if he refused to join her, she wouldn't mind, instead choosing to continue with her game and allowing him to observe if he wanted.

He smirked over at the wastebasket with the Popsicle stick inside it on the way out, suddenly feeling a lot better.

There was some comfort in knowing that, even when his entertainment quality for Karin wore out, he wouldn't be chucked away like that stick that had held the Popsicle she had loved so much. Yup, he was here to stay.

Take_ that, _you pathetic excuse for ice-cream.

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><p><strong>I promised all of my readers that I would not start another story unless I finished all my on-going ones, or I finished the new one I've published. And I've kept my promise! This story is complete – I have all seven one-shots written out. I just haven't put them all up because I want to tweak and edit each one one more time before posting it.<strong>

**I've seen so many different pairings with one-shots centered around the seven deadly sins, and I absolutely love them. Which is why I'm shocked no one has ever done one for HitsuKarin. At least, not that I know of. Well, never fear 'cause I'm here! (I am so dorky – forgive me).**

**And as all we English-speakers know, the language is so complicated that one word can have so many different meanings, sometimes ranging from a more intense definition to a more mellow one. Which is the reason why I've put the definition of each of the sins at the top, so that all of you get the feel of the piece and the intensity of the emotion that I want you to feel. It'll come in more handy in the later chapters.**

**Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Gluttony

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Gluttony<span>__: Habitual greed or excess in eating._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

Naive little Yuzu didn't realize at all that a small war was being waged around her.

"Give it to me," Karin hissed. Toushiro simply glared at her, before turning his head away and pretending he hadn't heard her ridiculous demand. Karin sent him a glare of her own. "Didn't you hear what I said? _Give it to me_."

She was stealthily leaning towards his seat at the dinner table, speaking in a low voice so her sister couldn't hear their argument. She knew Yuzu would only be upset at her behavior towards a guest.

"Stop being ridiculous, Kurosaki," Toushiro answered. "You've already finished your dinner."

"Yeah, and now I want my dessert, so hand it over," she demanded, and held out her hand, as if he would comply that easily.

"You've already had dessert, as well," the ice taichou countered, and sneakily edged his own plate farther away from her, so she couldn't make a grab at it.

"And I want more," Karin whispered.

"That doesn't mean you can try to steal mine. This is _my pie._"

"It's not stealing if I'm under my own roof," she sneered.

"_You're _the one who invited me to dinner."

"That wasn't an invitation for you to take the last slice of my favorite pie!" She blew up at him.

Yuzu stared at her, wide-eyed in worry, her fork suspended half way to her open mouth.

"Is something wrong, Karin-chan?" she asked. Karin whipped back straighter into her chair, sending her twin a sweet smile, as if she hadn't just been snarling at their dinner guest.

"Oh no, Yuzu. I was just telling Toushiro about how _wonderful _I think your pie is." Yuzu simply beamed at the compliment before returning to her dessert, that explanation having been enough to placate her.

"Your sister gave me this pie and told me to enjoy."

"Don't be such a glutton," she then whispered to Toushiro. He rolled his eyes, picking up a fork.

"_Me? _Let's not be the pot calling the kettle black, Kurosaki."

Karin's narrowed eyes were trained on his eating utensil, poised above the dessert she had been eyeing all evening, She didn't lift her gaze from it as she answered.

"_I'm _a growing girl. I need to eat to build up my strength." She would have believed he snorted, except she didn't think he was undignified enough to do that.

"You've already eaten the largest share of everyone here."

"Well, I normally eat more, but _someone _has the last of the slices that's always part of _my _share."

"Gluttonous girl. If you keep eating all that, you'll get fat. I should get you a picture of Omaeda-fukutaichou sometime, so you'll know what you're doing to yourself."

Karin scowled at him.

"I thought you didn't even like sweets," she hissed, shooting the ignorant Yuzu small glances as she leaned towards him again.

"That was your own misconception," he answered, smirking as he noticed she looked practically scandalized every time he moved his fork closer to the slice of pie on his plate.

She was about to retort when Yuzu suddenly stood up.

"I'm done," she announced cheerfully, and picked up her plate as she skipped off to the kitchen.

Karin made a sudden, blind grab for Toushiro's plate the minute her back was turned, almost falling clean off of her chair from the attempt. He simply nudged away the untouched pie with his elbow, and then enjoyed the show as she attempted to balance herself atop her seat once again.

"Wow," she gasped when the chair was on all four legs once again. "That was close. After that near death experience, I think I deserve some pie."

Toushiro simply scowled as he rolled his eyes again.

"Lay off it, Kurosaki," he muttered. "It's just one slice."

"Ha!" Karin cried, pointing at him melodramatically. "I _knew y_ou didn't care enough about it. _You_ don't _deserve _it like I do."

"Are you serious?" he asked her with an incredulous expression. "_That's _your argument now? That I don't contain enough_ emotional attachment_ towards the dessert?"

"I'm back," Yuzu sang as she walked back into the room. Karin immediately sat down quietly in her seat again, lowering her face so her hair covered the murderous expression on it.

But Yuzu had only just seated herself when a loud ringing noise cut through the sudden silence.

"Oh, that's the phone!"

Her chair scraped against the floor as she pushed back her chair and ran into the living room. The _second _even the shortest strand of her hair could no longer be seen, the kitchen turned into sudden death territory.

"Just give me the damn pie!" Karin screamed. Completely disregarding her dignity, she lunged towards him, her eyes wild and crazed, her arms outstretched towards his plate.

But he wasn't a taichou for no reason. His amazing reflexes allowed him to grab his plate and swerve out of her way, just as she crashed into his chair.

"Kurosaki," he growled. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"What I should have done a long time ago," she cried dramatically. There was no time to react as she ran at him, her eyes on the prize. Her hands clasped onto the edges of his plate, and her death grip was so tight that there was no indication of her ever letting go.

She pulled. He pulled. She pulled. He pulled.

And then he sighed in exasperation.

"This is ridiculous and childish," he spat. "Just take it."

But letting go was the wrong thing to do. Karin wasn't prepared for it, and her eyes widened as the force on the opposite end of the plate was suddenly lifted.

"Waah!"

Her hands went flying as she stumbled backwards, and the plate was suddenly in the air.

"The pie!" Her emotional screech was not enough to save the poor dessert.

"Karin-_chan_! My wonderful, _beautiful_, darling _daughter -_"

_Splat!_

Dead silence. No sound was made at all as the three occupants of the room stared at one another.

Poor Isshin stood in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob, his face in frozen shock as pie covered his face and shoulders, and slid down his shirt, a plate leveled flat on the top of his head.

Toushiro's own horrified gaze was not on the older man, but on Karin. He held his breath, waiting for the explosion he knew was coming. _But that was his own misconception._

One beat, and suddenly Karin was _sick _with laughter, her hands over her aching stomach, her eyes swimming with tears, her knees buckling under her as she slid to the floor, howling.

"That was _so _worth not getting my pie!"

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><p><strong>Eh, not my best work, but I hope it was bearable.<strong>

**Next is Greed, since I'm going in alphabetical order :P**


	3. Greed

**I got so many reviews for the last two chapters! Oh, I feel so loved. Thanks for all the kind words, or even just taking time to leave your thoughts - you guys really are the best. Which is why I hurriedly edited this and am ****putting this up, even though I have guests over right now :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Greed<span>__: excessive desire to acquire or possess more._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

Hitsugaya Karin wanted a baby. And not just any baby, but one of her own, mothered by her and raised to be a warrior and a person of intellect.

Many could say that Karin was already very blessed. Despite having lost her mother at a young age, she had a wonderful family that consisted of an adoring father, a kind sister, a protective brother, and a faithful husband. But, she decided one day, it wasn't enough. Not without her very own children.

Toushiro was willing to try, though he knew it was pointless. There was no way for a dead person to reproduce – not when they themselves held no life. But Karin insisted that there was no harm in trying.

Unohana-taichou was distraught to have to tell her that all of her perseverance had no desirable results.

"I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-san," she whispered, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of the devastated woman, "but it's just not possible. Death cannot bear life."

And still, she wanted a babe to hold, to coddle, to love. She _needed _one. She'd lived too long with having to watch her sister and her living, human husband's beautiful children fill the vicinity around them with exuberance and liveliness.

"I'm being greedy," she murmured into Toushiro's shoulder one day, cuddled up next to him on their bed. "I have _so much_ already – a lot more than so many other people. But...I really, really want a kid."

"You're not being greedy," Toushiro attempted to comfort her, bringing the palm of her hand to his lips for a kiss. "Your natural maternal instincts make you desire a child. I'm only sorry I can't give you one."

This just made Karin feel more wretched – her greediness was making the people she loved unhappy too.

"Let's go for a walk," she suggested to him. "It'll clear our heads. Besides, it's too gloomy in here for my tastes." The attempted lighthearted tone might have made him feel better if her accompanying smile hadn't been so forced.

So the two wandered through the Rukongai, hand in hand, eyeing everything new and old with little interest. Until, that is, they passed by a dark alley in one of the marketplaces.

"Do you hear that?" Karin asked him, halting in her tracks and pulling their joined hands to make him do the same.

"Sounds like...wailing?" Toushiro ventured a guess. Karin's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Let's check it out." And he had no choice but to comply as she dragged him by the hand. They wandered farther into the alleyway, and came across an unexpected sight - a small blue bundle lay against the wall. Inside, was a crying pink face.

"Oh my Kami," Karin gasped as she located the source of the noise. "A..._baby?_"

"Someone must have abandoned it here," Toushiro said with disgust. But Karin didn't really care _why _it was there.

"Toushiro," she whispered, her voice sounding elated. "Don't you see what this means?"

"That...Kuchiki-taichou's wife was reincarnated and died again?" Karin smacked his arm.

"This isn't funny. Think about it. Toushiro. I just told you that the one thing I wanted was a baby, so what are the odds that one shows up on our walk the_ same day_?"

Toushiro's eyes widened when he realized what she meant.

"_No. _Karin, no. We are not keeping him. This is not our baby. We can't -"

"- just leave him here," Karin interrupted and completed his sentence. "That would be cruel."

"You're only saying that because he's something you want."

"And if no one else wants him, then where's the wrong in that?" She turned to him and started pleading. "_Please? _This is a win-win situation."

"You _do _realize that he looks nothing like us. He has brown hair, and no other features that likens him to us. People will talk."

"I don't care," she declared, her face determined. She bent down next to the crying child, and scooped him into her arms, rocking him and attempting to quiet his sobs. He didn't really stop, but he did bury his face into her neck, fisting her clothes with his little fists. Karin was absolutely enchanted.

"I want him...he _is _a him, ri – yeah, he's a him." She gently folded the blanket back around his waist before turning towards her husband once again and repeating, "Please?"

Toushiro sighed, running his hand through his hair as he contemplated her suggestion. It didn't help that she was squeezing his hand and pressing closer every minute. He _wanted _to give her everything she ever desired, so it was rather hard to even think of refusing her request.

"Fine," he sighed. She gaped for a second before cheering, throwing one arm around his neck in gratitude, and holding the blanket closer. "I suppose it would be for the best."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, _thank you, _sweetheart. I _promise _we won't regret it."

"Say that _after _he keeps us up every night."

And so the Hitsugaya couple added another member to their family. They named him Haruki, because their favorite thing to do together was watch the sunset*. Everyone squealed over the little babe, and once Unohana-taichou had given him a full physical and pronounced him healthy, they proudly took him home.

They didn't have a crib for him, but Isane-fukutaichou had been thoughtful enough to lend them a small cot from the Fourth Division supply room. Karin placed the sleeping babe inside it gently, still staring at him in awe.

"My little Haruki," she practically cooed. Unable to help herself, she crouched down beside the cot, and ran a finger softly down his small arm's length. Toushiro watched this from his place standing behind her, and his lips lifted up at the ends slightly.

"We should get to bed," he whispered to her. "Let Haruki sleep."

Karin looked at the cot longingly and nodded, tearing her gaze away from the sleeping child. The two exited the room, turning off the light and shutting the door as they left.

A second later, Karin dashed back in, threw open the door in a rush, and crouched down again, running her hand over his head this time. She seemed in awe once again, showing no indication that she planned on moving from her spot anytime soon.

Toushiro smirked in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest for a moment before he entered the room and shut the door behind him softly.

"I guess this means we stay here tonight?" Karin beamed at him in response.

"And possibly tomorrow night...and the night after."

Toushiro crouched down beside her, and she slipped a hand into his, resting her head on his shoulder but not lifting her gaze from Haruki.

"Our bed will feel neglected."

"Tough. Like I said, I'm a really greedy person. I don't think I could ever get enough of my new family." She sighed in contentment.

Well, until Haruki let out a huge wail with no signs of ever stopping for a long time, and she realized they had _no _diapers in the house.

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><p><strong>*Their little baby is named Haruki (<strong>**陽輝****) meaning "shining sun."**

**Not much humor in this one. I wanted to write something a little more serious, but I tried to make it a little more lighthearted as it went along. I hope I succeeded. And I know it was a little OOC, but give me a break – having a baby is a life-changing moment.**

**I've read a lot of stories with many different theories surrounding the subject of reproduction between humans and shinigami. But honestly, I don't think it would be possible. And besides, this was a totally unique way to give them a baby, which is why I love it :) The idea for it **_**did **_**come from Rukia and Hisana's story, since I was recently re-watching the Entry and Rescue arcs. I even put in a little reference to it, if you all noticed.**

**Next is Lust! Though I've taken a very chaste route with it.**


	4. Lust

**I'm sorry, everyone. Because I was in a rush when I posted the last chapter, I forgot to specify that I meant that I think reproduction is not possible between a human and a shinigami _without a gigai, _****(it's possible in a gigai, which Moon of Jupiter was kind enough to point out to me, which helped me realize my mistake). I needed to clarify that so I wouldn't contradict myself in one of the future chapters. Sorry about that!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Lust<span>__: A passionate (dominated by or easily affected by intense emotion) desire for something._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

Hitsugaya Toushiro had known his best friend for exactly three years when he suddenly noticed that recently she had begun to...change.

It was such a shocking revelation for him. When the two had first gotten to know each other, she had been a child, interested in only long-winded soccer games, food eating contests, and hounding him for assurance of her brother's safety.

They hardly ever saw each other, only making plans when he managed to secure those rare vacations from his workload, and even then he didn't ever really try to seek her out, preferring to remain indifferent to the little sister of the substitute shinigami, lest he kill him for getting close to her.

But he always appreciated it when she found some way to locate him anyway, and invited him to all of her soccer games and any other day she spent with all of her friends. Even when he protested it was childish, he was always secretly happy. It made him feel like he was her friend, too.

He didn't have many friends, preferring to think of Matsumoto as an _unusually _close colleague, Ukitake as a fatherly figure, and Momo as a sister. After becoming close to Karin, he had started talking with Kurosaki Yuzu a lot, too, but he didn't consider her a _close _friend, since she was nice to everyone.

And so he found that it was actually very nice to know that someone cared about him enough to disregard her own personality of indifference, scour the town for his company, invite him to dinner, and visit Grandma Haru with him, even if the old woman always spouted some foolishness about the two being a couple.

Kurosaki was a close friend, a precious friend, one that he appreciated, but never took for granted. The relationship was comfortable and perfect the way it was, so why soil it with inquiries about a relationship exceeding far beyond mere friendship?

Which is why he hated himself for the thoughts that invaded his head, the fantasies that plagued his mind, the sudden and new _awkwardness _he felt around her, when he discovered that she was no longer the little girl he once knew.

"Hey, Toushiro!" she called happily, waving an arm above her head as she ran to catch up with him on the dirt path leading to the park. "Long time, no see!"

He averted his eyes from her, not wanting to watch the way her new lithe form ran towards him so gracefully, the way her hips twisted, the way her long legs pumped, the way her thin, cotton shirt rode up to reveal her stomach as she waved, the way the new bumps on her chest -

"Kurosaki," he greeted curtly, hoping his voice did not sound choked with his effort to use conversation to distract himself from the startling observations of his wandering gaze.

"Really Toushiro, I told you not to be a stranger when you left, and all I got was a couple of phone calls for the last 18 months!" She rolled her eyes as she caught up with him. "I mean, I know you've got that whole "ice cube" reputation and all, but even a note just telling me to _stay the hell away from you _would have been fine, as long as I knew you hadn't _died_ from mistaking your ink pot for a coffee mug and poisoning yourself, or something_._"

She punched his shoulder lightly, and he forced himself to stare only at her face and ignore the way her torso flexed with the movement. It didn't help; her face, too, had changed _so much. _The baby fat was gone, leaving only high, rosy cheekbones, and a small, button nose and full, pink lips, and -

"There was too much paperwork to do," he excused himself lamely. Again, a distraction was what he needed, and thankfully, he got one in the form of her scowl.

"And what?" she demanded, her hands suddenly on her dainty hips. "The trees decided to exact their revenge by devouring your cellphone? Spare me, Toushiro. You know you could have made time for even a _two-minute _call if you had really wanted to. Matsumoto did."

"Matsumoto slacks off all the time," he shot back.

"Then maybe you should try it sometime," she grumbled. He ignored her, and she rolled her eyes.

This was not good. His distraction was suddenly not helping at all. Not since his traitor mind had decided to realize that she looked positively _stunning_ with that fierce expression on her face, her sparkling eyes burning with angry passion, her nose scrunched in distaste, her lips bared back to reveal straight, white teeth underneath -

Okay, he _really _needed to stop making stupid lists about her appearance like that. What was _wrong_ with him? Was he..._lusting _after her? This was Kurosaki, for Pete's sake! And she was only thirteen.

"How's middle school going?" he asked, hoping to ease her slightly. Her eyes immediately lit up, and he sighed in relief.

"Great!" she answered, a beam on her face. As the two began walking together, she immediately went off on a tangent about how great her new school was, how much more mature and fast-paced than elementary school.

She looked so beautiful with so much spirit, moving her arms to give a visual of her words and puckering her lips to make sound effects along with her story. And then, as she threw her arms up to show him how excited she'd been about winning her first soccer game of the year, her shirt shifted slightly on her shoulder, and he saw _it._

The thin pale blue strap almost blended right in with her creamy white shoulder, but now that he had seen it, he couldn't stop staring. And with his eyes focused so intently, there was no mistaking it.

Was Kurosaki Karin wearing..._a brassiere?_

Well, any rational thought that might have decided to stick around in his mind after he caught his first sight of the new her just flew away.

When did she become such a..._girl? _Where was the Kurosaki he remembered? The girl who could stuff three hot dogs down her throat in less than a minute. The girl who could body slam a kid twice her size into a pile of mud to prevent them from scoring a goal. The girl who wasn't _a girl._

Now, she was all new hair and long legs and brassiere straps and all feminine.

_'No, wait,'_ he ordered himself. What the hell was he thinking? This was just Kurosaki. She had _always_ been a girl. Just because he had never noticed before didn't mean it had never been that way. And just because he had finally noticed, it didn't mean anything had to change. She wasn't acting any differently around him, so there was no reason for him to suddenly change, either.

They were friends. Nothing more complicated than that.

"Oh, and Toushiro," Karin suddenly called him out of his reverie. When he looked at her in confusion, she beamed a beautiful smile. "I almost forgot, but Yuzu told me to give you this from her when I saw you."

And she slipped her arms around his neck, pressed up against him in a way that she probably thought was simply friendly, and gave him a tight hug that made his stomach drop.

He groaned inwardly.

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><p><strong>Edit: Thinking back over this story, I thought Toushiro seemed more like a guy who would say 'brassiere' rather than 'bra,' so I changed it :P<strong>

**I'm sure some of you might be disappointed with the way I decided to do the Lust one-shot, but this is the route I took. I decided to keep it very innocent, or as innocent as possible. I mean, come on! She's only thirteen. It would so not be right for him to suddenly try ripping off her clothes in his lustful fury. **

**You'll notice the definition at the top is also the most innocent one I could find for "lust," so that the tone was also set as clean and harmless. It was kind of hard, since everything said, "very strong **_**sexual**_** desire," but I didn't want that as a part of this one-shot. This is also the same reason I gave the most innocent definition for "passionate," so no one mistook my meaning.**

**Oh well, I hope you liked it. Next is Pride.**


	5. Pride

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Pride<span>__: A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

"Ugh! Son of a _bitch!_"

"Karin, please calm down."

"No, I won't! Where does the _hell_ does it get off...come on, _so _close...finding come _sick pleasure _in – OW!"

"Let me see it."

"No, no. Just stay back. I can do this on_ my own._"

Karin maneuvered herself away from him as he attempted to get closer, a concerned look masked beneath his indifferent face. She stuck her finger in her scowling mouth, slowly sucking on the blood oozing out of the place she had accidentally stuck herself.

Toushiro sighed, running his hand through his hair. Because he was trying to hide his concern, it seemed like he was only irritated at her stubbornness, but the truth was, he was actually worried. She had lost so much blood already, but she refused his help. All this was doing was getting her more and more ticked off.

Karin picked up the needle and thread one more time, and her tongue actually stuck out from the side of her mouth in concentration as she attempted to, once again, thread the small hole.

"I _swear _I'll get this. There's no way I'm letting that stupid principal _win _after he stuck me in Home Economics, especially when I requested P.E."

Toushiro sighed again, this time at her pigheadedness.

"He only did so because the class was full," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"That's what he told everyone, but I bet this has something to do with me releasing all the lab rats in science class last semester. He wants me to be more _feminine_, so I'll stop making trouble. Ha! Like that'll happen, especially after _this._"

She grunted the last word as she stuck herself again. He raised his eyes at her explanation and slight paranoia as she reached across her desk for the tissue box on her bedside table.

"Wouldn't actually doing the work properly simply be giving in to his demands?" he questioned.

"Yeah, but Kurosaki Karin never backs down from a challenge!" Karin cried, pumping her fist in the air in victory before hunching over the needle again. "Now, leave me alone, Toushiro. You're distracting me from my w – OW!"

As he skillfully jumped out from the window, he heard her cursing at the needle, and couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation at her antics. That girl's pride would never let her be defeated by a simple embroidery assignment.

He thought the same thing when he returned the next day to find her windows and door locked, her curtains drawn, and a sign on her door that read _Can't talk. Sewing in progress._

"How long has she been in there?" he asked a passing Yuzu. She stopped her humming, put down the laundry basket in her hands, and put a finger to her chin in a thinking pose.

"Hmm, I think it was since yesterday afternoon," she answered cheerfully before skipping away to do the laundry.

Toushiro looked at the door with a disbelieving gaze. She'd been in there since his last visit? Could anyone really be so extreme for the sake of pride?

Well, this was a Kurosaki he was talking about, he answered himself. And she _had _tried to compete in a soccer game with a disfigured and bruised knee when he first met her. And really, this type of determination was something to be admired.

"Good luck, Kurosaki," he whispered towards the door, and smirked slightly before shoving his hands in his jean pockets and striding away.

He left her alone for the week with her project, silently encouraging her. He heard from Ichigo that she had locked herself away for days, sometimes refusing to eat dinner because she was _so close, _and had used up their clinic's band-aids after sticking herself hundreds of times.

The assignment itself was very simple. Each student simply had to sew a design or shape of their choice onto a scrap of cloth, so the teacher could evaluate the skill of each student in her class before beginning larger projects. With amusement, he wondered whether she had gotten farther than trying to thread the needle and not succeeding.

When he saw her again the following week - after she had finally finished her assignment, turned it in, and had it graded - he was amused to find that both of her hands were thickly covered in bandages. She didn't seem to care much; she looked positively elated as she told him the good news.

"I got a B!" she told him, joyously. With a smug smirk, she proudly held up the embroidered piece of cloth, and the rubric of the assignment, which indeed had a large, red "B" written and circled in the top right hand corner. "It came to me as a stroke of genuis. I just had to pretend the cloth was someone who had come to the Clinic for stitches, so I just had to sew like I was giving someone a suture!"

Though entertained by her solution, he meant to congratulate her, but when he caught sight of the finished product, he frowned. Karin noticed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking back and forth from him to her work.

"I think that deserved more than a B," he told her, his brow puckered at the thought of the teacher's unfairness. She beamed at the compliment. "I mean, that's a very well sewn bunny."

He didn't understand when her face immediately fell, or when she looked at him, completely puzzled.

"What are you talking about, Toushiro?" she demanded. "This is _supposed _to be a flower."

It was his turn to be completely puzzled. A flower? In what universe was _that _a flower?

She must have noticed his incredulous expression, because she suddenly shoved the work in front of his eyes, as if the entire confusion was simply a result of his poor eyesight – he had 20/20 vision, thank you very much.

"See? Look." She pointed to various parts of the embroidery as she explained the design. "This is the stamen. Okay, I admit it's a bit deformed, but hey, I got a B, not an A. And these parts are the petals. They look weird scattered like that, but since I messed up the middle..."

His eyes narrowed.

"Are you sure? Because I'm positive that design resembles the rabbit Kuchiki is rather fond of. _Chappy, _was it?"

Karin brought her work closer to her own eyes this time. She then held it up at arm's length, turning it and squinting to try to see what he saw. Maybe she did, because suddenly her eyes grew wide in shock, and then she was looking at him in complete horror, her next words a choked whisper.

"I'm turning into _Rukia-nee._"

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><p><strong>Poor Karin :) This one was shorter compared to the others, but I hope you liked it! Next is Sloth.<strong>

**Oh, and FYI, the stamen is the middle part of the flower, where pollen is produced. In case you didn't know that, I thought it might help you visualize the embroidery.**


	6. Sloth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Sloth<span>__: Reluctance to work or __**make an effort**__; laziness._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

"_Ugh. _It hurts so much."

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Don't turn towards_ me_ if you're gonna _puke_, idiot!"

"Quit your yelling. It freaking _hurts..._"

All around him, shinigami were groaning, their hands clutching their heads and their eyes shut tight to shield them from the glaring sun. But there was one in particualar he was concerned about.

"_Toushiro..._" he heard a groan to his right, and immediately turned towards the source.

There was Karin, lying flat on her back next to the couch, her arms spread wide around her, her brows wrinkled, and her face scrunched up in pain.

"Are you alright, Karin?" he whispered, crawling over to her and crouching next to her figure.

"Remind me to _never _let Rangiku persuade me to drink again," she grumbled. Toushiro smirked.

"Well, we all did try to convince you that you were drinking too much, but you didn't want to hear it."

"Of course I didn't," she hissed. "I was _drunk. _But this hangover is so not worth it. If I never see liquor again for as long as I live, I'll die a happy woman."

"Alright, guys. Let's party!"

The group let out a collective groan as Matsumoto burst in, completely uneffected by the alcohol she had consumed the night before and already holding another sake bottle in her hand.

"Matsumoto," Toushiro reprimanded her firmly but softly, so as not to disturb the pounding headache Karin was sure to have. It probably didn't really help, since she groaned and clutched the sleeve of his haori tightly. "Quiet down. No one wants to drink anymore, and you're causing a ruckus."

"It's not my fault everyone is a lightweight!" she cried, not taking care to lower her voice at all.

"_Matsumoto..._" another collective groan and shudder passed through the shinigami gathered.

"Toushiro, I don't feel so good."

The white haired taichou sighed as Karin clapped a hand over her mouth and turned over to her side, indicating that she might vomit soon. He grit his teeth as he ran his fingers through his hair, torn between a desire to scold his lush captain some more, and concern for his girlfriend.

This was really all Matsumoto's fault. She had been so excited by Karin finally reaching the legal drinking age that she had immediately thrown together the rowdiest gathering she could, of course bringing in barrels of alcohol for everyone to enjoy. Karin, excited about the prospect of finally being able to drink, had downed bottle after bottle, despite Toushiro's warnings.

"Can we please go?" Karin practically whimpered as she placed an arm over her eyes.

Toushiro very carefully placed his hands underneath her and lifted her up, cradling her into his arms gently.

"I'm leaving Matsumoto," he informed her. "It's your responsibility to clean up here."

He shunpoed away from her loud complaining about the injustice of leaving it all to her, and everyone else's soft complaning about her loud outcry.

"Do you think you can walk?" he asked Karin, trying to get a better understanding of her condition.

"_No. _Carry me home, Toushiro." He smirked slightly, the demand sounding strange with such a weak voice.

He shunpoed straight to their barracks in the tenth division, grabbed the key from its cliche hiding spot in a potted plant, and carried her inside.

"Bed," Karin whispered, fisting his haori and burying her face in his neck so the motion would not nauseate her.

He nodded, and walked her to their bedroom. The bedsheets they had so carefully fixed in the morning wrinkled as he placed her gently on top.

He sat down beside her still form and slipped his hand into one of hers, running a hand soothingly through her hair. He remembered it had made _him _feel better, all those years ago when he had naively downed a bottle of vodka at one of Matsumoto's parties, thinking it water. Matsumoto had found him a wreck in the morning, hunching over the toilet and gritting his teeth, and she had sat there with him, running her fingers through his hair as she waited for the worst of his condition to pass.

His action seemed to do the trick. Karin hummed softly in appreciation, and even managed the strength to give his hand a squeeze in gratitude.

"First hangovers can be tough," Toushiro whispered, "so if there's anything you'd like me to do for you..."

"Can you get me a change of clothes?" Karin rasped, already taking advantage of the offer.

He immediately strode over to their closet and rummaged through its contents until he found some comfortable clothing – a thin, cotton T-shirt and loose running shorts.

"Help me put them on," she whimpered weakly as he placed them on top of the bed.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Do you even plan on doing _anything _by yourself today?" he asked her, though she could hear the humor behind his exasperated tone.

"No," she answered, and there was a small smile playing on her lips. "Not when you're here."

He shook his head in amusement as he reached for the sash of her shinigami uniform, skillfully untying it with speed that had only come with practice.

"Wait," she suddenly said, and shifted slightly on the bed, attempting to turn her head away from the window so she could lift the arm from over her eyes without getting a headache.

He was quick to dash over to the curtains and pull them over the window, effectively hiding the sunlight so she would be more comfortable.

"Thanks," she said, and very slowly peeked out at him. "I feek all sticky and gross, Toushiro. I want a bath."

He smirked.

"And I'm assuming it's _my _job to wash you?" he asked, with raised eyebrows and a coy smile.

"Only if you want to keep your title as the best boyfriend ever," she joked, but he was concerned when the smile seemed rather brittle at the ends.

"Alright," he agreed. "Let me just run some hot water for your bath."

"_Mmmm_...okay."

He bit his lip at her groan, but continued with his task anyway. After he had plugged the drain and spun each faucet enough to mix the rushing water and create a comfortably warm temperature, he returned to her. She was in the same spot and position she had been in before, completely still once again and not moving a single muscle. He picked her up slowly with concern and began undressing her.

He slipped her arms out of her sleeves and slid her clothes off of her shoulders, letting them drop to the floor. He then carried her into the bathroom and smoothly placed her into the bathtub, turning off the faucets soon after. Thankfully, as a taichou, he got a very large sized bathroom, which meant the tub was big enough for Karin to lay and stretch out in pleasantly.

After rolling up his sleeves, he reached for a soft sponge and her bottle of pear scented bathing gel, squirting out a generous amount and lightly rubbing her shoulders with it, enjoying the soothing scent he usually smelled on her.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked her anxiously as she laid her head against the wall with her eyes closed tightly once again. Who knew the usually tough tomboy couldn't handle alcohol?

"_Yes,_" she moaned. "And Toushiro?"

"What is it, Karin?"

"...You only made it worse when you offered to do anything I wanted."

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><p><strong>Poor Toushiro's being taken advantage of. But it's fine, since I don't think he minds... ;)<strong>

**Just to clear up any confusion, Karin's in Soul Society, but she's still alive, like Ishida, Orihime, and Chad were when they first invaded with Ichigo. I thought some people might find it strange, since she says, "If I never see liquor again for _as long as I live_, _I'll die_ a happy woman," so I thought it best to explain.**

**This one is one of my favorites, along with the next one, so I hope you enjoyed it. Next is Wrath, and then I'm done! How exciting.**


	7. Wrath

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

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><p><em><span>Wrath<span>__: belligerence (hostile or war-like behavior) aroused by a real or supposed wrong._

**.. ****ღ ****..**

"Oh my God, would you look at the _size _of her?"

"Doesn't she have any shame? Some girls just need to realize when to lay off the cakes."

"Oh, _I know_. And look, she's even drinking a _milkshake. _Doesn't she realize what she's doing to herself?"

Karin scowled dangerously, _so _tempted to whip her head around and chew off the heads of the women who _dared _to insult her.

"Ignore them, Karin," Matsumoto whisprered sympathetically from her seat across one of the booths in the mall's food court. "It's not worth it."

And she knew it wasn't. But still, she saw red every time she managed to catch a glimpse of their oh-so-_perfect_ figures and strawberry blonde hair from the corner of her eyes.

Who the hell did those bitches think they were? Did they think they could just _get away_ with badmouthing her like this? _Her, _who jogged for an hour every morning – though not recently, for obvious reasons – at a time so early that even the early birds and the worms admired her. _Her, _who restricted her diet so carefully so as to ensure that she didn't lose the toned mucscle she had spent all of her life building as a soccer player.

She was pretty sure if they wanted to talk smack, she could give them a piece of her mind with words that would put rappers to shame. But _her mind _wasn't exactly what she wanted to give them right now. No, a shiner and a broken arm sounded _much_ more appealing.

"Matsumoto's right, Karin-chan," Yuzu added in a low voice. "You're better than them. You can just walk away."

Karin gave a grim laugh.

"Yuze, do you know me _at all?_" she asked with a snort of laughter, but the glare in her eyes and grit of her teeth were too strong for any humor to show through.

"I'm sure they're only saying those things because they think you can't hear them -"

"That doesn't make it _okay!_"

Everyone seated at the table gulped in worry as they saw her hand curl into a tight fist.

"You're just feeling extra emotional right now," Rukia reasoned, attempting to calm her. "_You know _you could walk away if it wasn't for that."

"I'm not sure I could, Rukia-nee," Karin shot back, her hand uncurling and then re-curling into a fist once again. "They're really, _really _pissing me off."

As if on cue – and as if they didn't value their lives – the women started up again.

"And look at her _hair._"

"It makes her look like such a man. Why would she want it so short?"

"I've heard that when people know they're ugly, they just give up."

"What would Hitsugaya-kun think if he saw you like this?" Orihime said softly, looking slightly frightened when she noticed that Karin looked so very aggressive with the way her upper lip was bared back over her teeth in a snarl as she looked over at the sluts so stealthily that they didn't notice.

"But he's not here now, is he?" she argued. One minute; it was all she needed to teach them a lesson. A quick punch to the jaw, a swift kick to the knee – she could incapacitate them so easily.

"He'll be back any minute," Matsumoto answered, and began looking over her shoulder worriedly, praying he would show up in the nick of time, before his wife did something drastic. She could _not _afford to get banned from the mall, especially not with so many sales suddenly popping up everywhere.

"With the way she's dressed and the way she _looks, _she's halfway to becoming a man already."

"I bet she's one of those macho women, with gross muscles all over her body."

"Nah, because then she wouldn't be _bigger than a killer whale!_"

"I'm sure he'd understand," Karin said gravely as high-pitched peals of laughter erupted from the table next to theirs.

Her friends were sending their own glares now to the gossiping whores, but they all still reached out to pat her fist soothingly, still not condoning violence.

"Don't do it, Karin-chan," Yuzu cautioned. "We'll leave here today, and you'll never see them again, so there's no reason -"

"_No reason_?_!_" Karin hissed. "Did you _not _here everything they just said about me?"

"Yes, we did," Rukia answered, sighing. "They're horrible people, but starting a ruckus won't solve anything."

"It will if I mess up their jaws so badly that they can't ever talk again," Karin growled, no indication on her face to show that the threat was in anyway a joke.

"Karin," an icy voice suddenly said from behind their table. When she heard the bitches next to her gasp in elation, she knew who it was.

"Toushiro," she answered, and suddenly, she was all smiles as she faced him. There was no way she was going to let him know what had been happening in his absence. "You done with your shopping?"

He nodded, holding out a paper bag to show her his purchase.

"Great," she answered happily. "Should we head out then? All this _noise _" - she sent the women gaping at her handsome husband in awe a glare - "is making _our_ baby upset."

And she smiled softly as she put a gentle hand over her large stomach. Toushiro hesitated for a moment, his eyes roaming the food court in unease at the number of people gathered that would witness the affection he was about to show, before striding over to her and placing his larger hand atop hers.

"If you or the baby is unhappy," he said, softly, "then we certainly can't stay here."

He twisted their hands so that his was underneath hers, and cradled hers in his palm before holding it more firmly and helping her stand by pulling her up gently. Karin tightened her hold on his hand as she straightened herself, and was smug when she realized that the women who had been gossiping about her were now watching her and her lover in shock and jealousy.

All the females gathered at her own table were staring at each other with wide, relieved eyes, and at Toushiro like he was their savior. Well, he _had _just prevented an embarrassing commotion from playing out by simply being in Karin's presence.

They all stood up quickly too, picking up their packages and belongings, and shooting the table adjacent to theirs heated glares, before following the married couple heading for the exit doors.

"Oh, hang on, guys," Karin said suddenly, pulling her hand out of Toushiro's and raising a finger to signify they wait a moment as she turned around. "I forgot my coat."

Toushiro nodded, folding his arms and leaning against a wall of the cafeteria to show her that they would be waiting right here. The others nodded, too. She smiled before rushing over to where she had previously sat.

As she got closer, she noticed the females from before watching her approach, though their eyes kept flitting from her stomach to Toushiro constatntly. She smirked, a perfect revenge forming in her mind.

When she leaned over the seat to grab the coat she had left behind, she alligned her mouth directly beside the ear of one of the women who had been insulting her so readily.

"I'm big because I'm having a baby with the man I love," she whispered, loud enough that the rest could hear, too. "What's _your _excuse?"

And as they gaped at her, she ran back to her beloved with her jacket slung over her arm, cackling inwardly in victory.

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><p><strong>Whoo! Go Karin! This one was more Karin-centered, but there was HitsuKarin, so I think it's okay. And besides, the entire scene happened <strong>_**because **_**of their relationship, since she wouldn't be big if she wasn't pregnant, and she wouldn't be pregnant if not for Toushiro, so...yeah.**

**This one-shot was also the reason I had to clear up my mistake about the reproduction issue. Please note that Toushiro is in a gigai, which is why Karin is pregnant with his child.**

**And I'm finally done! It's a little sad, but exciting too. I could never thank you all enough for sticking with me until the end, and for all the wonderfully kind words in your reviews, as well as adding this to your Alerts and Favorites; you are all so good to me. It's been a fun ride, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the seven deadly sins of HitsuKarin. I certainly did!**


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